This invention relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor devices, and more particularly the invention relates to the loading and unloading of cycler boards into an oven for burn-in testing.
Literally millions of semiconductor devices are fabricated each year. A final step in the fabrication is a burn-in test of each packaged device to identify defective devices.
In carrying out the burn-in tests, a plurality of multi-layer printed circuit boards or “burn-in” boards are provided with each board having a plurality of test sockets for receiving packaged devices for testing. One end of each board has contacts for mating with connectors of the test apparatus to facilitate the testing of each device. One such test apparatus is the AEHR Corporation MTX oven which receives a plurality of stacked boards for burn-in testing of devices in a heated environment.
Heretofore, packaged devices had been loaded automatically into a burn-in board at a Loader/Unloader Station with a human operator sequentially providing the burn-in boards for device insertion into the test sockets. After a full stack of burn-in boards have been loaded with packaged devices, the human operator physically and sequentially moves each board to the AEHR burn-in oven for testing. The process is time consuming and the placement of the loaded burn-in boards can be physically taxing. Other burn-in systems employ a magazine for holding a plurality of burn-in boards which can be loaded into an oven in one operation. However, known systems employ a board latching mechanism at the back of the oven for engaging board contacts with oven connectors. The mechanism is manually actuated, and the location at the back of the oven complicates routine maintenance of the mechanism.
The present invention is directed to alleviating these difficulties found in prior art burn-in systems.